One of the first animated films to incorporate CG with hand-drawn animation.
Took footage from youtube user 0088, who had the original Harmony Gold audio (from a VHS recording, which as far as I know is the only way to get it, as it only aired on t…
One of the first animated films to incorporate CG with hand-drawn animation.
Took footage from youtube user 0088, who had the original Harmony Gold audio (from a VHS recording, which as far as I know is the only way to get it, as it only aired on television), and mixed it with a slightly higher quality version of the movie (from other various sources), and edited them together to make this rendition of the film (to the best of my ability).
This film was originally released in Japan in 1984, got an American release in 1987-8, and had a made-for-TV version done by Harmony Gold in 1989. The Harmony Gold version edits out roughly 15 minutes of footage from the original cut (primarily from scenes that, honestly, did go on for too long; but also some more relevant bits in order to make it more kid-friendly, such as this scene where the dad punches his son in the gut, where the midget hippy is eating a rat, and toned down a few death scenes and speeches). Despite the cuts, despite some awkward edits (especially during the last minute with the "love confession"), the main selling point for this version of the movie is the glorious 80s synth music. Half of which is taken from Harmony Gold's other anime (Robotech), the other half is original music done by Peter Davison (who did some of the best tracks in the film, especially during these two chase scenes). The music by Peter Davison, unfortunately, had never been recovered or utilized in any source outside of this version of the movie. So we're stuck with voices and SFX going on alongside the music, likely never to hear an isolated score from his work.
This film has never gotten a DVD release (and only the non-Harmony Gold version got a VHS and Laserdisc release). This is primarily because it's caught up in copyright hell, largely due to the original creator of the Lensman universe/franchise (ie book writers) forbid it, and are doing everything in their power not to get this re-released. Because they hated the film adaptation, view as sacrilege with how far it deviated from the source material. Not often a work from a famous anime film director, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who is also responsible for Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City, Demon City Shinjuku, Goku: Midnight Eye, and Cyber City Oedo 808 can get unofficially banned from official release. Then again, this was his first major film he worked on before moving onto those projects.
0088 youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N81ZjY1pUh4
alternate version of the movie (with original Japanese music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g5xFo8YowQ
video discussing the copyright controversy and its "Lost Media" status: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpmTynxXGCM
see above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK9eTrrMdJA
For a slightly better version where I made a couple tweaks, ho here: https://archive.org/details/lensman-harmony-gold-w-opening
